268 Plants and their Ways in South Africa 



flowers are so well equipped that they have been distributed, and flourish, 

 in nearly every part of the globe. 



Of the 8io genera, 153 are found in South Africa. The 

 genera are grouped according to the style branches, under six 

 tribes. 



Disc flowers tubular, regular. 



Tribe I. — Style branches long, slender, pointed, hairy 

 outside. Flowers not yellow, all tubular. 



Vernonia. — Involucre of many overlapping scales, not 

 spine-pointed. Pappus of many bristles in two or more rows. 

 Achenes smooth or silky, ribbed. Erect or half-climbing 

 shrubs and herbs with white or purple flowers. Heads single 

 or in corymbs. Eastern. 



Corymbium. — Heads i -flowered, involucre of two 

 opposite scales, with two or three outer bracts at base. 

 Achenes silky. Nearly stemless herbs, with linear parallel- 

 veined leaves. The rootstock clothed with long soft silky 

 hairs. Cape Town to-Uitenhage. 



Tribe H. — Stigma long, blunt or flattened at the tip. 

 Flowers all tubular. 



Ageratum. — Heads many-flowered, roundish, clustered in 

 corymbs. Pappus 5-10-toothed scales. Herbs with ovate or 

 heart-shaped leaves on long petioles. Flowers mauve. Often 

 cultivated ; found in Natal. 



Tribe HI. — Style branches long, flattened, often crossing 

 instead of curving backwards. Heads usually with ray flowers. 



Aster. — Heads many-flowered. Ray flowers, and usually 

 disc flowers bearing fruit. Involucre of overlapping scales. 

 Achenes flattened. Pappus of many saw-toothed bristles of 

 equal length. Flowers with white, pink, or purple rays and 

 yellow or purple discs. Herbs or shrubs with often small, 

 rarely petioled leaves. A large genus. 



Diplopappus. — Flowers as in Aster, except the pappus of 

 two rows, the outer of short, the inner of long bristles. Much- 

 branched shrubs or simple herbs. 



Tribe IV. — Style branches linear, flattened at the top, 

 bristly at the apex, or tipped with a bristly cone. 



A. Anthers without tails ; pappus of large scales — 



